They Were Divided

A Hungarian classic and winner of the 2002 Oxford Weidenfeld Translation Prize, They Were Divided reflects the rapidly disintegrating course of events in central Europe on the eve of WWI. In the foreground, it tells the story of Balint and his flawed cousin, Laszlo Gyeroffy, told with humour and bittersweet nostalgia for a paradise lost through folly. In the background, the sinister and fast-moving events in the Balkans eventually not only lead to a horrific war, but also to the complete dismemberment of their once-great country.